You know, you hear a lot of talk that we live in a pluralistic society.
So, we wanted a statement on our State of Theology that directly addressed that.
And the statement is this: “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity,
Judaism, and Islam.”
Now, when we put that to the general population, of course, the vast majority would agree with
that statement because we truly live in a pluralistic world, and we need to remember
that.
We need to remember that people think that way when we’re talking to them about the
Bible, who Jesus is and who God is, and who they are as a sinner before God.
But here’s what I want to talk to you about regarding this statement.
It’s the evangelical response.
Now, when we put that statement to the survey takers in past years, the answer for evangelicals
was hovering right around 50%.
And that’s just a horrible response to this crucial notion of pluralism.
One thing we found in the 2020 response is that we’re making a slight improvement.
It was 42% of evangelicals who agreed.
Now, that’s better than around 50% of previous surveys, but it’s still not good.
What this is saying is that evangelicals are not immune to the culture they live in.
This pluralistic culture that just surrounds us and that we hear every day coming at us
through all sorts of media and being told that we must be tolerant and we must have
tolerance for other religions, and that great Hindu proverb as it says: “All paths lead
to the same summit.”
We’re just fed that constantly.
And what this survey shows us is that that is affecting the way evangelicals are thinking.
They are being overly and tragically influenced by their culture.
We must go back to the pages of Scripture.
We must recognize that, in the first century, the church was in a pluralistic context.
Greco-Rome was a pluralistic place, and along comes Christianity and asserts salvation exclusively
in Jesus Christ.
We find this all over the pages of the New Testament.
Peter proclaims this: “There is salvation in no other name except the name of Jesus
Christ.”
And Jesus Christ Himself said: “I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.”
The Bible is clear, make no mistake about it.
The Bible is clear.
It teaches that salvation is exclusively in Jesus Christ.
And when we see evangelicals affirming pluralism, that should send the alarm bells ringing.
And that tells us that we must proclaim the exclusivity of Jesus Christ.
Certainly, this is a difficult doctrine.
Certainly, it’s a hard doctrine.
And certainly, there are many in our culture that don’t want to hear this.
They would much prefer that we be more tolerant, and we be more kind, and we present a kindlier,
gentler God.
But that’s not the God of the Bible, and that’s not a God who can save.
And while it is a hard saying, it is a necessary saying that salvation is in Jesus Christ alone.
But here’s what that means: salvation is in Jesus Christ alone.
And that is not a message of intolerance; that is not a message of bigotry.
Remember this: that is a message of hope.
And that is what we as a church have been charged with from Scripture itself.
We have been commanded to proclaim Jesus Christ as the only hope for salvation.
And that is the good news.
Jesus Christ is the hope of salvation.